Frost and Summer
by Seetherk
Summary: Pitch is back! And he has captured Jack can the guardians save him in time?
1. The Call

Jack was simply resting a moment after giving a snow day Burgess, the place of his birth. He leaned against a tree letting his eyes drop slowly into the sweet darkness of joyful sleep. He did not stir to any noise, but to a dark feeling. A presence that was not welcome and he felt it in his very soul. Opening his eyes, Jack slowly stood with his staff in hand and surveyed his area.

Suddenly he was thrown sideways fast and hard into a tree midway up its trunk. He fell into the snow, unmoving a moment before his breath finally came back to him. He coughed, and clawed at the snow to stand but a pain in his side surprised him. It delayed his actions, long enough for his attacker to strike again.

He has thrown into another tree, the pain was in his back this time and he found himself leaning against the tree trunk nearly losing consciousness. A black figure walked toward him, grabbed his neck in an iron grip and lifted his body of the ground. Through a fog and blur Jack recognized the figure. "What…do you want…with me?" and struggled to ask.

"Wouldn't you love to know?" Pitch replied, and with that he stabbed jack's center with a sword of black sand, the sand engulfed his insides and then burst from his wound and curled around his body. He screamed at the pain, and then found himself in darkness.

…

"North!" Bunny called as he entered his workshop, the guardian was in the mist of his preparations for Christmas, a legendary cluster of toys and parts were scattered about every room. Some of them already played about with themselves and North was distracted among them, checking their function, their appearance, setting his workers straight. He was too busy to notice Bunny's unexpected visit. "North!" Bunny called again, in a mid hop, landing with a thump in front of North.

North, a bit surprised, stepped back and greeted his friend, "Bunny! What have I done to deserve your unexpected visit! What a surprise!" He rubbed his belly as jolly as usual. Bunny hardly had the time to take a breath before a loud crash sounded. Looking toward the sound they found that one of the yetis was covered in a mess of red a green paint, and sat in a puddle of it on the floor. North shook his head.

"North," Bunny continued, "Have you seen Jack lately?"

"No, I haven't, I wonder how the boy is doin." He responded, touching his chin in thought.

"That's the thing, its November, and winter has yet to come." He said worriedly.

"Ho Ho, nothing can stop winter my friend." North laughed.

"But it's unusually warm, I know you're busy, but surely you've noticed." Just then several elves walked past, sweating, panting, and just simply looking hot, and uncomfortable. Bunny eyed North with folded arms.

"So it's a little warm this winter, it happens every now and then." He defended.

"But it's never been this warm, it was cold as first, but something just doesn't feel right."

North clapped a hand on Bunny's shoulder, "Well, if it would calm your nerves, I could send out a message to him."

"Thank you." Bunny spoke as they walked to North's globe room.

…

Shelly frantically searched all of Burgess looking for Jack; he was nowhere to be seen. She felt fear rise inside her, it was as if the spirit of winter had disappeared completely without a trace. In was during a hopeless moment that she saw the call. It was not for her, it was for Jack, he was a guardian. She stood determined to know if he was ok, and began her journey to the North Pole.

…

"It's taking too long North, he should be here by now." Bunny tapped his foot, flustered.

"But it is Jack we're talking about." North replied.

"Yes, I suppose your right." He sighed, calming himself.

"Bunny! Watch out!" North tackled him out of the way, of the red figure that crashed through the window, and tumbled across the floor coming to a painful stop at the wall.

"Ouch." Said a soft feminine voice.

North helped Bunny up, and together they approached the small form that was covered in a red cape. They watched her slowly, almost struggle to right herself, she remained on her hands and knees when she felt their presence, and looked up to them. As she did so her hood fell, revealing her face, and long black hair.

"Shelly Summer?" Both North and Bunny spoke.

"Hi." She replied with an insecure smile and a slight wave of her hand.

"What are you doing here?" Bunny asked.

Shelly stood up, pulled her hair out of her hood, and brushed off her clothing before answering, "I'm looking for Jack. Have you seen him?"

"No, we've been wondering about him ourselves."

"No, it can't be.." North spoke to himself, standing with his arms folding and hand to his chin thinking intently. "Right." Then hurriedly he called the other guardians.

…

Sandy came quickly enough, leaving Tooth the last to arrive. "North! I hurried here as fast as I could." She said as she flew in. Then she look around, and then right at Shelly, " What are you doing here?" She looked around again. "Where's Jack?"

"That's what we need to figure out." North said.

"He's missing?" Tooth asked.

"Aye."

"I thought it felt unusually warm."

"Where do we start? Has anyone a clue where he could have disappeared to?" North asked. They all fell silent, unsure, but then sandy broke the silence.

"You have an idea?" Tooth asked Sandy responding to his open thoughts.

"Can you show us?" Sandy shook his head and the guardians wasted no time heading out.

…

They all landed in the small clearing at once, and scattered. Shelly wondered toward the pond, its water was perfectly still. "Over here!" Tooth called, "There's blood, on this tree!" The guardians rushed toward her location, it had been dry a long time, but it had dripped down the trunk leaving a strip of black red behind. She covered her mouth, and tried not to cry, he just couldn't be hurt, he just couldn't be. She shook herself out of, determined to find him. Her eyes wondered back to the crystal clear water, and right there settled at the bottom, was Jack's staff broken in two.

"Jack!" She yelled and jumped into the water. She swam to the bottom and picked up the two pieces, then kicked off toward the surface. Just as she came close her head hit something hard, and he found herself trapped under ice. She pounded on it to no avail, it would not break for her, and already she was running out of air. Everything began to go black.

Then a pair of hands pulled her out, and dragged her away from the water. She rolled over and coughed water from her lungs. "Are you alright?" She heard Bunny ask, and shook her head and responded.

"But Jack isn't." Then she held up the two pieces of Jack's staff. Suddenly, a black figure burst from the pond.

"Ha ha ha," It gave off an nightmarish laugh.

"Pitch." Tooth said, all of the guardians took a defensive stance.

"What have you done with Jack?" Bunny yelled.

"This." He shot out a stream of black sand towards Shelly, black sand bounced off her chest and curled around her body to immerse her whole body. An explosion of power burst from her throwing back all the guardians and stopping the black sand. She fell limp, as if lifeless. Pitch laughed again and disappeared taking her with him in a dark cloud. The pieces of Jack's staff landed with a clank upon the ground after being released from Shelly's hand.

…

Jack began to stir, his whole body hurt, but it was his wound that caused him the most pain. His breath was unsteady, because every breath irritated the wound at his center. His hands were also stretched uncomfortably above his head. When he opened his eye, he found he was several feet off the floor, and his hands and feet were trapped in black stone. He was in Pitch's labyrinth which was adorned in black and gold, and then right in front of him, in his same position, was the spirit of summer.

She was unconscious, limp against the black stone that held her captive. He tested his bounds with his frost power, and was rewarded with great pain that shot through his body. His screamed echoed through pitch's labyrinth alerting anyone who might be there. When the pain stopped his was sore, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He listened for any other presence that might be close by, and when he was confident that he and the spirit of summer were alone he prepared himself to try again.

This time he put more power into his right hand, as much as he could cracking the stone, and then gave in to another great burst of pain. He caught his breath and prepared himself again. One more time and the rock shattered, freeing his hand. After recovering from yet another great pain he reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a shard of ice.

After becoming a guardian, he created a way to contact them, and this was it. With just a tiny bit of power the signal was out. He put the lightly glowing stone back in his pocket, and relaxed a bit. Everything was sore and he had no more energy to free the rest of him. He began to get dizzy, and fall back into unconsciousness.

_Just an idea, I hope you guys like it__ Let me know what you think._


	2. The Rescue

_ For my two reviews, ask and ye shall receive! The very next day apparently, I'm so happy you liked it, and this story got three favs and two followers__ I love you all to death thank you so much!_

Shelly was in a lot of pain when she woke up, not only did she fell like she was stabbed in the stomach, but her whole body was sore. Then she seemed to be stuck in a weird position, her hands were stretched above her head. She didn't understand why, she remembered being with the guardians, but then nothing. It took a moment to regain her bearings, for she couldn't tell if she was facing up or down. She opened her eyes and realized she was upright, and hanging in a strange room that she had began to look around and then, "Jack!" She yelled when she realized that he was in front of her across the room.

He was completely limp, and his feet and left hand were bound in black stone, his right hung by his side. It seemed that he was trying to escape. She looked at her own limbs and realized she was bound the same way in the same stone. "Jack!" She yelled again, "Jack! Wake up!" nothing.

She tested her bounds with her power, and then realized a blood curdling scream as pain shot through her limbs as if needles were being pushed through her veins. She gasped for air when the pain settled; leaving her body even sorer than it was before. Then she glanced up through her hair at Jack when she heard something that wasn't her. The black stone on his right turned to sand, extended toward his right hand, brought it up mirroring his left, and then hardened into stone. He was still completely limb. "Jack." She spoke.

A black figure walked the path between them; he stopped and turned toward her. He looked her straight in the eye, and she became overcome with fear. "No, you're not real. You're not real!"

"Oh but I am very real my dear." He spoke.

"You're not real. You're not real." She spoke softly to herself keeping her eyes closed, refusing to look at him. She felt a hand touch her chin, and raise her closed eyes.

"Just because you refuse to look at me doesn't make me not real." He said. She opened her eyes, gasped, and tore her face away from his cold hand. He laughed. Then she felt that same great pain run through her, again she screamed and darkness took her.

…

With no clues, and no idea of where Pitch had gone the guardians returned to North's workshop discouraged. Sandy had gestured the idea of asked the moon for help. "Do you think the moon will talk to us?" Tooth asked.

"No." Bunny responded.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." North said, already heading to his globe room, the others followed. They entered the room and the podium was already glowing, or at least an object upon it was. "What is that?" Tooth asked. North did not respond, but ran to it and picked up what appeared to be glowing glass. It shined an even brighter blue when he touched it.

"To my Sleigh, Now!" He said, and was off.

"What is it?" Bunny asked while running beside him.

"I'll explain on the way." He said, and minutes later they were all in his sleigh and in the sky toward their destination.

…

"Jack made this?" Tooth asked as she held the ice glass admiring its beauty. Sandy sat beside her doing the same.

"He wanted a way to contact us, and although it took a long time that was what he came up with." North replied.

"I gotta give the kid credit, he spends a lot more time with children than we do, if anything happens to any of them, he would probably be the first to notice."

"And alert us! Jack you're a genius!" Tooth said.

"Over here." North landed in a forest clearing. He took the glass from Tooth and then they all jumped out of his sleigh and followed him.

They came to a smaller clearing, and in the center was a bed. It was made, and a child was in it, crying. Under the blankets the child hid, they rose and fell randomly with the child's sobs. The guardian slowly approached, but it was Tooth that flew the rest of the way.

"Hey there." She spoke gently, sitting beside the child and lowing the covers to reveal the boy dressed in battered clothing. "Hey it's ok." The boy looked up; his eyes were watered and face red. He jumped into her arms and continued to cry. She continued to whisper assurances to him while the other guardians came closer. Until she screamed, suddenly, jumping back away from the child, who had embedded a knife in her leg.

"Tooth!" Bunny went to her aid, she flew back to lean against a tree, and stared at the knife, and the blood that flowed from the wound. He fell beside her, "Easy, I got this." He said removing the knife and applying pressure after it was gone.

Mean while the child grew from darkness, becoming wider and taller, like a shadow stretching. Black sand run in curls all around him and then finally Pitch emerged from the black cloud.

"Pitch." North said, and Sandy glared preparing to fight. "What have you done with Jack?"

"Soon." Pitch responded, "The power of Summer and Winter will be mine. The world will truly fear me."

"You can't take their power."

"Watch me." And with that they heard the screams of the two spirits leak up, in echoes from the burrow underneath the bed. Then Sandy attacked, and the two fought furiously with a series of whips. Bunny took the distraction, leaving Tooth, to jump into the hole and follow the sound of screams.

…

"Jack!" Bunny called, "Shelly!" as he followed to tunnel into a large room. That was decorated in multiple gold cages, he continued forward toward the door at the other end. Which he opened the heavy metal door with some effort, and then entered.

The screams were loudest there; he looked up and found them. On opposite side of the room the two spirits were bound in black sand stone which appeared to be absorbing the glowing power from each of their bodies. Their powers flowed from them into the stone, which then flowed into a black gem in the center of the room. The gem was balanced on a stand; quickly Bunny hopped over and knocked it down with a kick. Then watched the gem topple over and shatter on the floor, the spirit's stopped screaming, but they both from limp and unconscious.

…

North joined in the fight, but Tooth was unable. She was forced to watch as Pitch had awakened some great power. He sent a fire ball at Sandy, which exploded on impact and he disappeared, then he sent a beam of ice at North which encased his hand in ice. North continued to fight managing to crack Pitch over the head with his iced of hand.

Pitch became disoriented then, giving Sandy enough time to pull himself back to together and rejoined the fight. Grabbing him with whips of sand and throwing him fast and hard into a tree nearby. Pitch righted himself and sent a fire ball at Sandy, but it fell short. Then he tried an ice beam, and nothing happened. "Oh no." he had just managed to say before Sandy threw him again somewhere into the abyss of sky.

"Tooth are you alright?" North ran to her side.

"Yes, I'm fine. Find Jack remember." North looked at Sandy, who had joined them. Sandy gestured for North to stay with Tooth, and he would help Bunny look for Jack and Shelly.

"We'll be right here then." North said, and with that Sandy jumped into the hole.

…

The black stone crumpled as it turned back into sand. The two spirits fell hard onto the ground below unmoving, almost lifeless. It happened too fast for bunny to catch either of them. Then red and blue power separated from and pieces of the shattered black gem and rush back into the bodies of their owners. Even then they did not stir.

"Jack," Bunny said as he started toward him. He rolled him over and saw his clothing covered in blood. Sandy entered the room then and alerted Bunny to his presence. "Sandy they're hurt, we have to hurry and get them out of her."

Sandy shook his head with determination, and extended his golden sand toward the two spirits, lifted their limb bodies from the ground and brought them to his cloud to lie. Bunny followed as they left the labyrinth. Were the guardians wasted no time jumping back on North's sleigh and going back to his work shop to attend to the injured spirits.

_ Now it's time to heal up these poor fellas but the story just can't be over after that, but I at a loss as to what to do next. I could use some ideas on that matter, what do you guys think? Thanks for reading_


	3. The Good-Bye

The spirits of winter and summer lay side by side, in North's infirmary, both with similar injuries. Puncture wounds in their stomachs looked like black stars from Pitch's darkness invading their bodies. Which still spread like a disease and the Guardians did not know how to stop it.

Tooth thanked Bunny when he finished binding her wound, he nodded, and "I'm here to help." He said. She smiled. They both joined Sandy, and North who sat beside the unconscious spirits in silence.

"This has never happened before, what are we to do." North broke the silence, but his words sparked a thought in Sandy.

"What is it Sandy?" Bunny asked.

Sandy began to tell a story; with his golden sand he created a moving picture. There were two spirits, many, many years ago. One of summer, the other of winter, they were commanded by the moon too only come out during their season, and to hide away when it was not. To be near each other would disturb the balance of the seasons, but they could not be apart, for they had fallen in love. It was during the changing of seasons, autumn and spring that they would spend time together before hiding away, or coming out. One winter season, the spirit of summer had become especially lonely, and darkness had come out of the shadows and began to speak to her. She had run away from it in fear, coming out into the winter season. Although, she was simply trying to get away from the dark entity, the power of winter was at its greatest strength, and she froze in the cold of it. When the winter season came time to an end, the spirit of winter went to find summer, only to find her frozen and lifeless. In grief winter went on a rampage and threw the earth into a great age of ice for many, many years.

"The Ice age, so that's how it happened." Tooth said.

"Without the spirit of summer, how did the earth ever come out of the ice age?" Bunny asked.

Sandy indicated that somebody had sought out the spirit of winter, and killed him, thus melting the ice, and eventually thawing summer's frozen body, and reviving her.

"But without Winter, wouldn't the earth have gone into an age opposite that of ice?"

She had been locked away, until the moon had chosen another spirit of winter. Which took many years, Sandy told them.

"Until Jack was chosen." Bunny said.

No, Sandy shook his head. Jack is the third Spirit of Winter.

"What happen to the second?" Tooth asked.

Sandy simply frowned.

"Also died," North finally spoke, "But Shelly is the original Spirit of Summer. So then she's practically older than you, Sandy."

Sandy shook his head yes.

"But, back then, with Shelly being locked away, and the other two Spirits of Winter being killed. That doesn't help us now. Shelly and Jack are still alive, and with us." Tooth said.

"The moon." North contemplated, "Let's place them under the light of the moon."

…

That night, they did just that. Carefully placed there limp bodies outside under the moon, and they stood back and waited for the clouds to clear. In moments, a beam of moon light, shot down, and rested upon the bodies of the two spirits. Shelly began to glow red, jack began to glow blue, and their light shined so brightly that it overtook the land. The guardians had to jump behind a nearby rock to keep from being completely blinded by the great light.

It lasted only seconds, before dyeing down, and disappearing completely. The guardians came out from behind the rock, and became filled with joy, for the saw their friend Jack, standing up, alive and well. They ran to him, being stopped in their joy when they saw his face. A tear had left a frozen stream down his face.

"Jack, what's wrong? What happened?" Tooth asked, and looked around. "Where's Shelly?"

"I don't know. I think she's gone, forever. I hope not, she deserved so much more." Jack replied. He raised his eyes the moon and spoke to her, "She deserved more! You can't do this to her!" The moon's glow died in response. Jack fell to his knees. Bunny stepped forward placing his paw upon Jack's shoulder. "I have to say good bye, to all of you."

"No, don't say that." Bunny tried to comfort him.

"No, I have to. It's my turn to be locked away, until another Spirit of Summer is chosen." Jack stood, and faced the Guardians. "Thank you. Thank you for everything." Then he stepped back away from them.

"Jack, no you don't have to.." Tooth spoke quickly, trying to stop him.

"Good bye." Jack said one final time before another beam of moon light shot down upon him, and in a burst of blue light, he was gone.

_ Sorry it's shorter than I had hoped, but it will continue as soon as I get my ideas together. Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for the future of this story. Thanks for reading _


End file.
